The invention relates to poultry house equipment, comprising drinkers and/or feeders.
Poultry house equipment usually comprises both drinkers and feeders for the purpose of making both water and feed available to the poultry.
With poultry house equipment that is known per se, the drinkers and feeders are located at a fixed position within the poultry house. In this known poultry house it is possible, however, to move the drinkers and/or feeders in vertical direction in order to position said drinkers and/or feeders at a desired vertical level with respect to the floor, and furthermore in order to raise said drinkers and/or feeders to a level relatively high above the floor. This latter situation is desirable when the poultry house is to be cleared and cleaned.
During normal use of the poultry house equipment, that is, when the poultry is present in the poultry house, said drinkers and/or feeders are present at a fixed position within the poultry house. The poultry that is present in the poultry house will gather around the drinkers and/or feeders and deposit excrements at those locations. In addition, water will be spilled near the drinkers, as a result of which the area surrounding the drinker will become relatively moist.
Due both to the relatively large amounts of excrements deposited at a particular location and to the relatively moist areas, the living conditions in the poultry house are not optimal.
The object of the invention is to provide poultry house equipment wherein this problem of the known poultry house equipment is avoided.
This objective is accomplished with the poultry house equipment according to the invention in that the drinkers and/or feeders are movable in horizontal direction.
Since the drinkers and/or feeders are movable in horizontal direction within the poultry house, the animals will no longer concentrate around a fixed location in the poultry house, but they will scatter all over the poultry house. This means that also their excrements will be evenly distributed over the entire poultry house. The spilling of water will no longer take place at one concentrated location, but it will likewise occur along the entire path along which the drinkers are moved. As a result, the occurrence of relatively moist places in the poultry house will be prevented.
In this manner the poultry house floor will be fouled evenly, as a result of which the living conditions in the poultry house will be improved.
If the animals wish to eat and/or drink at a particular point in time, they will have to move to the drinkers and/or feeders. An alternative for the poultry is to wait until the drinkers and/or feeders are automatically moved in their direction.
Since the drinkers and/or feeders move relatively slowly, those animals that are present in the path of the drinkers and/or feeders will be prodded slightly, which will make them move out of the way.
One embodiment of the poultry house equipment according to the invention is characterized in that the poultry house equipment comprises at least one water and/or feed supply conduit and drinkers and/or feeders connected to said conduit, and means for moving said conduit and the bowls connected thereto in a direction transversely to the longitudinal direction of said conduit.
In this way it is possible, by moving a single conduit, to move a number of drinkers and/or feeders that are connected thereto simultaneously with said conduit.